


The Scars We Wear

by I_hate_usernames



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Assassins & Hitmen, Established Relationship, Happy Ending, Hurt, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Sorry, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Sad, Sniper Lance (Voltron), Suffering, Temporary Character Death, Torture, and, because this is, i hope you suffer reading this, i think, more relationships to be added if I feel like they fit?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-08-14 13:51:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8016517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_hate_usernames/pseuds/I_hate_usernames
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Voltron is a special army assassination group. After a mission goes wrong, Lance is hurt and lost. Devastated and furious, the team has to deal with the consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost

**Author's Note:**

> This fic's start was inspired by this fan art:   
> http://lowaharts.tumblr.com/post/149902547471/in-the-beginning-it-was-just-a-game-of-tag-when

“Okay, this is Red. Green, I'm in. There’s two guards nearby. Do I have the okay to take them out?” Keith asked after clicking the intercom on once more. He had turned it off while he had been busy concentrating on climbing the wall surrounding the enemy base and finding a safe place to calculate his next move. Because he preferred not to be disturbed while doing so.

 

“You’re in just now? Aww, Red, are you getting rusty. That took like… Four minutes forty seven seconds. You are moving slower than my Grandma. Though that’s pretty normal. My grandma moves surprisingly fast for her age, most people are slower than her.”

 

Keith let out an annoyed puff of air and massaged the bridge of his nose. “Blue, could you please be serious every once in awhile? We don’t have time to listen how fast your grandma is.”

 

“Aah… You’re no fun babe. I was just pointing out that you are moving pretty slow. You sure you’re up to this mission?”

 

Keith growled in annoyance. “Blue…”

 

“Sorry to interrupt guys, but, yes, you have the permission granted to take out the two guards. Just try not to draw too much attention. Green over.”

 

Not waiting another moment for anyone’s response, Keith rounded the corner one throwing knife ready on his right hand as the other knife, meant more for hand to hand kills, was on his left one. Once he had taken his aim, which didn’t really take time at all, he threw the knife to the neck of the other guard. He was ready to jump onto the other one to slice his throat open before he could react to his partner’s attack when a bullet flied not too far next to his head, hitting the other guard in the head. With blood flying many metres on, the other guard slumped to the ground a second later after his partner.

 

Keith turned with an angry scowl on his face to where he knew the bullet had came from. “Blue what the fuck, I could have taken him out too!”

 

“Yeah, I know babe! But you know me, can’t let you have all the fun.” Keith could practically hear the smirk on his lips and he just knew that Lance threw a wink in the end.

 

“Can you stop calling me babe during missions?”

 

“Roger that, honey.” Keith couldn’t help but throw a tired look towards the sky as if asking god why did he have to endure this.

 

“Lord give me strength…”

 

“Ha… Didn’t know you were the religious type honey.”

 

“Sometimes you need to look for strength in higher powers when you have an insufferable idiot as a boyfriend.”

 

“Aaw… You wound me honey. You know you love me.”

 

Keith sighed, refusing to answer, out loud. Yes, I do.

 

“Now, can we get back to the mission, you know I don’t think the boss is that happy of us chatting like this. And you’re supposed to have my back.”

“For your information, Red is right. Gold is definitely not happy of you wasting critical time.” Came Allura’s voice through the intercom. Both Lance and Keith winced at her voice.

 

“Sorry Gold. And don’t worry I’ll be sure to watch Red’s back. Gotta say, the view isn’t half bad.”

 

Keith took in a deep breath once again as if to collect strength, and to fight off the annoying blush on his cheeks. Goddammit, he was on a mission, he was supposed to be focused and not get distracted by Lance complementing his ass. That bastard.

 

“I’m moving forward. Red over.”

 

Silence took over the intercom and Keith knew that they were all concentrating on their individual jobs again. Lance and Hunk keeping guard with their sharp-shooting guns on two sides of the camp. Shiro had infiltrated the camp from Hunk’s side while he had from Lance’s. Allura and Pidge helping them from afar with their technology that kept track of the things happening in the camp.”

 

“Black, there are two guards coming your way.”

 

“Roger that. Yellow?”

 

“Got it. I’ll take the left one, you can take the right one.”

 

A moment later Shiro’s voice was heard once again. “Threat terminated.”

 

“Hear that Blue? That’s how you’re supposed to be if you want to snipe someone’s target.”

 

There was only one dismissive puff of air heard from Lance’s direction.

 

They continued on. Allura updating them about them closing in near each other and the target.

 

“Red, Black, take cover. Blue, northeast.”

 

Neither hesitated to find the nearest surface to hide behind. Both waiting. They heard a gunshot through their intercom.

 

“A sniper eliminated from northeast of Red. Wait a second as I scan the area for anyone else.”

 

Silence went on. “Green?” Shiro asked.

 

“There doesn't seem to be any more heat marks that could be snipers’. You are closing in on the center. There are four persons surrounding the target. More guards further on the north and east sides of the camp. For now we are not concerned in taking them out if they don’t get in the way. Your mission is to take out the target and then make your calculated retreat. I think it’s safe for you to continue. Blue? Yellow?”

 

“Yeah, everything seems to be clear. They really aren’t that prepared for anyone trying to infiltrate their base.”

 

“Everything’s clear with me too. Yellow over.”

 

“This job is soo easy I can’t believe that they even- Fuck.” Lance’s voice came to an abrupt stop. They could hear a door being banged open. A gunshot, a shout of pain and then three more gunshots.”

 

“Blue? Blue!” Keith whisper yelled in alarm. Everything had happened so fast but something was wrong. Keith could feel his heart starting to beat like crazy in his chest. This sharp pain stabbing his gut as horror settled over him. There was no response.

 

“Blue do you copy? Please respond if you can hear me.” Came Allura’s voice over the intercom.

 

There were few beats of silence and Keith could feel panic rising up his throat.

 

“Blue copies.”

 

There was a collective sigh of relief. Keith took in a shuddering breath trying to calm himself down again.

 

“Are you okay? What happened?” Shiro asked.

 

“An enemy soldier found my hideout. I shot him down.”

 

“Did you get hurt? There was a shout.” Keith asked. Something wasn’t right.

 

“Whaat? Noou! The guy missed, poor aim, seriously. I just kicked my leg when I had to turn to shoot him down. He didn’t even have time to press the trigger again. That’s just how good I am.”

 

Keith wasn’t convinced. Lance’s voice sounded a little strained even though he put on the usual flair and cockiness in his voice.

 

“Blue…” Keith drawled out. He wanted to say Lance’s name to stress his demand even more but that was prohibited during missions.

 

There was a laugh. “Seriously! Come on? Don’t you believe me? You guys know that I can take a guy out in like a second even if I don’t have my gun in my hand at first. You hurt me, truly. To have this little confidence in me…”

 

“Alright, alright. We get it, you’re fine. Are we ready to continue on with the mission?” Came Pidge’s voice over the intercom. “This may be an easy mission but this is also a high target. We need to take this guy out. Right Gold?”

 

“Yes, Green is right. Are you ready to continue?”

 

“Yes, yellow is ready. By the way, glad to hear your okay buddy. Don’t scare me like that.”

 

Lance laughed. “What? It’s just a part of the excitement. Blue is ready.”

 

“Black ready.”

 

“Red ready.” Keith said finally although through gritted teeth. He had a bad feeling and he couldn’t shake it off. But, there was no time to argue, he figured.”

 

They continued on. There was no more guards on their path to the target, according to Pidge. And it didn’t take long for them to reach the tent the target and two other persons were in. Two guards were standing in front of the tent. Shiro and Keith finally met each other behind the tent. They didn’t need to speak to communicate between each other. Shiro went around the other side while Keith went around the other. They both took out the guard closest to them right at the same time. Shiro’s hand wrapping itself around his victim’s throat, the other covering his mouth so he couldn’t yell or breath through his nose or mouth as he strangled the victim to death. Keith had a different approach. Slicing the other guard’s throat with his knife. He, too, covered the victim’s mouth with his hand so he wouldn’t be able to yell or make any noise. Both their victims stopped fighting around the same time and after a few moments of being completely limp in their arms, they both laid the guards gently to the ground.

 

After this they turned towards the tent and with a look to confirm that the other was ready to dive in they threw the fabric serving as a door away and plunged in. It took them only a moment to assess the situation. There indeed was three men inside the tent. One sitting in the corner playing with some kind of a knife. Two others leaned in over something on the table. Keith took out the one in the corner with quick throw of a knife that landed in the middle of the victim’s throat. With few quick steps he was behind one of the guys in front of the table and he didn’t hesitate to stab him in the back with one of his largest knives. Skillful in his angle so he knew it would hit the victim's heart. Meanwhile Shiro simply took hold of the other guy and with skill and accuracy he was able to break the guy’s neck like it was nothing. There was a loud crack of bone breaking down. Shiro’s victim didn’t have time to make any kind of a sound while Keith’s groaned slightly in pain before all voice cut off and he fell over the table with a dead look in his eyes.

 

“Well that was clean. It’s so easy to kill the targets instead of capturing them.”

 

“I wouldn’t say your method was that ‘clean’. There’s blood all over the place!”

 

“Well my way is more secure. Gives the victims little chance to fight back.”

 

“If you can do what I do with proper skill there’s little chance of my victims to fight back either. I'm able to keep the killing clean and easy. This is way too much mess to clean up!”

 

“Well we don’t have to clean it up do we? So what’s the problem? Seriously my way…”

 

“Boys boys, you’re both pretty. Now can you give me confirmation that the target is dead?” Came Allura’s voice, cutting their argument off. One that they had gone over many times.

 

Shiro pulled a paper from his front pocket with a picture of their target on it. He compared it to the dead men around them while also checking their pulses to determine if they really were dead.

 

“Three deceased men confirmed. One of them matching the features of the target. Target is eliminated.”

 

“Good. Now-”

 

“Guys… Our time seems to be up. There are three army vans heading towards the camp. They appear to be heavily armed with lots of soldiers. We should make our exit now.” 

 

“Judging from the heat marks there could be up to thirty people on those vans. I agree with Yellow.” Said Pidge over their connection.

 

“Well the target is taken care of. That would be our next move anyway. Are everybody okay to retreat like planned?”

 

“Yes. The vans are coming from east and so,Red, Black and me are able to exit to the west like planned. Blue you okay?”

 

There was a chuckle. “Totally. Totally. I can just zip line to my ATV like planned. No problem.”

 

“Good, everybody retreat now. See you back at the base. Gold out.”

“Right behind you guys!”

 

\-----

 

Lance turned his intercom off. The mission was over, great. Knowing that nobody could hear him now, he let out a pained groan he had been holding for so long. His heart was beating like crazy and it didn’t help with the bleeding gunshot wound on his side. Thick red blood bleeding out between his fingers in time with his pulse.

 

Calm down. Calm down, dammit. You can do this.

 

He turned his attention back on the scope of his gun and followed Keith and Shiro with eyes as they made a beeline through the camp towards the getaway car. There was no guards or other dangers in his path. He moved his focus to where he knew Hunk was. Able to see just when his gun pulled away from its position. Good he was going too.

 

Lance followed the three as well as he could. It didn’t take long to reach the getaway van. And once there was sand flying behind them as they drove away, he could finally let out a breath of relief.

 

He turned attention to the other side where the three vans were closing in. He had a bad feeling of this…

 

Maybe he was stupid. Maybe he was an idiot. He knew that he would at least be called those things if he got out this. If he got out of this…

 

He should have told them. It hadn’t been that hopeless. With help he would have been able to get out of there. But hey… here he was… Lying on a pool of his own blood, too weak to get up because he was too selfish not to make sure everybody else would be safe.

 

God… They were going to be so angry with him… The mission wasn’t even that important he guessed…

 

Since the vans had reached the campsite, Lance could observe how they jumped out of the car, ready for action the moment they hit the ground. And there was no mistaking that these guys knew exactly what was happening.

 

First of all, one of the vans didn’t even stop. It kept going and was starting to head off where the others had headed. Second, the rest of the soldiers spread out and started scouring down the camp. At least they didn’t seem to be aware where he was…

 

Then again, right now he was taking out the giant rocket launcher and aiming it towards the car that was heading straight towards where his friends had drove off. And now that wasn’t good at all…

 

And hey, since it seemed like he was bleeding off anyway, he would be damned if he didn’t do everything he still could to aid his friends.

 

He fired.

 

And once the the massive weapon let out its massive sound, Lance could just feel how every enemy turned to look towards his location.

 

Well shit…

 

\-----

 

He had known… He had known something was wrong. But he had ignored it for… He had no idea why he had ignored it. He never pushed against his instincts when he had them but for some reason…

 

It had started with the feeling that something was wrong with Lance’s little incident. Then they had taken out the target and he had forgot it.

 

And then, once they were they were with Hunk and Shiro on the getaway car driving away, he had tried to contact Lance only to realise that his intercom was off. And the feeling of just… something really really bad had come back tenfold.

 

“Guys… Lance isn’t responding!” He yelled over the engine of the car.

 

“What?” Responded Shiro.

 

“His intercom is off!”

 

“Maybe… Maybe he just turned it off because he didn’t need it anymore…” Said Hunk hesitantly.

 

“Hunk… Lance never turns off his intercom… Something… Something is wrong!”

 

And just like that Shiro slammed the breaks down bringing the car to an abrupt stop.

 

“Pid- Green, Gold, where is Blue?” Shiro demanded instantly.

 

“Uh… Wait a second. He is… Oh no…” Came Pidge’s response that faded away weakly. “He- He’s still in his position?”

 

The next thing they heard was a loud explosion far off in the distance. Keith bolted to look out of the window, seeing a cloud of flames burst up with a cloud of dark black smoke far off in the distance.

 

“What? What is happening? Was that Lance! Pidge what is happening over there?” Keith could help but yell in his panic.

 

“This isn’t good… Oh no… This isn’t good…”

 

“Pidge!”

 

“Lance fired off his rocket launcher on one of the vans that was starting to head your way and now the heat marks of the rest of the soldiers are starting to head his way… There’s… There’s like twenty of them…”

 

Panic was soaring so fast up Keith’s throat that he choked a little. “We- We have to go back! Shiro!”

 

Shiro was just about to head off when Lance’s voice suddenly came through the intercom. “He-Hey guys…” Keith could feel his heart stop for a second when he heard Lance sound so… in pain and afraid.

 

“Lance! Lance what is happening? What are you doing?!” He yelled, his hand coming over his ear like he could somehow reach Lance like that.

 

“So I uh…” Lance gave an awkward chuckle, “I kind of lied before when I said I wasn’t hurt by that gunman…”

 

“Lance… No… You…” Keith’s voice was weak with fear and panic.

 

“Yeah… I know, I'm an asshole for not telling you about the bleeding wound on my side… Sorry about that… Anyway, so I like only shot down like eight people while five dudes were able to get inside this block I’m in and yeah… I only have three bullets on my hand gun… Oh wait…”

 

There was four shots. Precise and even.

 

“Hah! Make that twelve, I'm amazing aren’t I?”

 

“Lance get out of there!”

 

“No can do honey… I can’t really stand right now… Heh… I know, what a loser am I?”

 

“Shiro! Drive! We have to get to him!”

 

“No don’t! Don’t- Ah who am I kidding… I can’t stop you…”

 

“Lance we are coming for you, just hang in there!”

 

“I’m afraid to say that you’re probably gonna be too late judging by the footsteps coming closer…”

 

“No! Lance! No! You are not allowed to say something like that, we are coming for you, you idiot!”

 

“Anyway… I thought I was gonna die some heroic death while you guys got to safety but I kind of couldn’t help myself to hear your voice again… Keith, I love you. I’m sorry.”

 

“Lance! Wait…” There was three gunshots heard over the connection. Then three clicks of gun going off without bullets. A shot and… Silence.

 

“Lance! Lance!” Keith couldn’t stop screaming. “Lance! Are you there? Can you hear me? Lance! Shiro drive faster!”

 

“I’m trying I… We got too far… We are too far...”

 

“No! We have to get to him! Lance…” Keith whispered into the intercom which only responded with silence.

 

There was thick cloud of sand flying behind them. Once they got to the camp, Keith barely waited for the car to stop before he stormed out. He was running with only one goal in his mind, get to Lance, get to Lance. And he was ready to kill anyone that came across his path. Though, he was so unfocused in his surroundings that someone could have easily ambushed him from behind. Nobody was around to do that however. Just like, once he had ran the six stories of stairs, there was no one in the room where Lance should have been.

 

“Pidge! Pidge! He isn’t here! Where is he?” Keith was turning frantically around in the room. There was an abandoned handgun on the floor as well as Lance’s sniper and even the rocket launcher. And… Blood. So much blood. Lance’s blood. And well some were from the three bodies lying on the doorway but there was no corpse on the pool of blood in front of the window. A pool of blood that was stretched over the floor like someone had been dragged on it. Lance had been dragged on it.

 

“I don’t know! One of the cars took off and I can’t track them fast enough with the heat satellite! They are getting away!”

 

“No! Do something! You can’t lose him!”

 

“I- I-” There was tears in Pidge’s voice now. “I can’t find them anymore…” A sob. “I’m so sorry Keith. I can’t find him. I lost him.”

 

“No!” No, no, no, no… This couldn’t be happening. Lance couldn’t be… Keith had no more strength in his legs and he fell to the floor on his knees. He was clawing his head as horrible horrible pain and horror and panic just shot through him like a giant crushing wave. He was trying desperately to get some air into his burning lungs but it was like all the air had disappeared from his lungs.

 

Lance couldn’t be… Lance… No…

 

Lance was lost.

 

And then Keith screamed. And it sounded like a roar of a beast in agony.


	2. Find him, save him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy about all the comments and kudos I've gotten!^^ Thank you so much everybody!

It didn’t make sense… It was all just so… blurry. Keith couldn’t really comprehend everything what happened. And in what order, when and how. It was all just messed up together…

There had been crying. There had been pain. There had been violence. There had been… just everything.

He remembered how he had just paralyzed. How he had fallen to the floor. His fault. He had lost him. He was gone and he couldn’t do anything. There had been blood. There had been no air. He was gasping for breath it was… It wasn’t now. That was over. He had… left? How? Everything was just so confusing.

He couldn’t remember anything but flashes after that. Shiro. The homebase. Pidge. Allura. Hunk. They had been there. He had screamed. He had yelled.

Right now he felt… Numb, paralyzed, drowsy. Everything around him was clean and white and all his senses felt towned down. He could hear… something, voices… but he couldn’t understand. He could see but he couldn’t focus. Just so… confusing.

Then it all kind of just… came back to focus. One minute he was staring like a zombie straight ahead and then he started to understand that it was, in fact, Shiro he was staring at.

“Shiro?” He asked. His voice was so weak that it could barely be heard but Shiro lifted his gaze to him nevertheless.

“Keith?”

Keith moved his gaze. Following it around the room, noticing that he was in a bed, that he was strapped in a bed. In a small white room.

“Do you know where you are?” Shiro asked.

“No…”

“Do you… Do you remember what happened?”

It took a moment, Keith digging through his memories, trying to make sense of them and make out what were the most recent ones. Then he remembered and it hit him with full force.

“Lance.” He rasped out, yanking his hands that were restrained to the bed and couldn’t be lifted more few inches. Shiro’s posture straightened out, instantly more alert.

“Yes. The mission went wrong and Lance was taken.”

“He- He isn’t here? How long has it been?”

“Do you remember what happened after Lance was taken? How you reacted?” Keith shook his head.

“You… You were pretty out of it. You wouldn’t react to us or follow commands. You couldn’t calm down. You acted rather violently and we had to restrain you and calm you down with medication. Do you remember any of that?”

Keith shook his head again. “No- No, I can’t- I can’t remember… Everything is… Everything is so confusing… I- I did that? I really reacted that way?”

“Yes… After I carried you back to the car and we came back to base you just… You just went berserk when you heard we couldn’t find Lance or go to him and… And well… So you ended up here.”

Keith went quiet at that, turning his gaze from Shiro to the roof. Trying to process everything and just… just try to find some sense from it. He had been violent? He had been awake and somewhat responsive but he just couldn’t remember anything of it? It was… It was so weird to hear that he had reacted that way. He had never before done anything like that.

“So… It’s been two days?”

“Yes… And we have been searching Lance the whole time but… Our leads are slim and it… It isn’t good.”

“Have you found anything? How…”

“There are a couple possibilities where they could have taken Lance if he… If he’s still alive.”

In that moment it flashed so clear in his mind that it was like lighting pierced his head. The blood. Lance’s blood. The blood he couldn’t get off his hands and it was everywhere and…

Keith gasped for breath as he pushed the image away from his mind. He couldn’t… He couldn’t think. He would panic if he didn’t collect himself. It took a couple of tries but he was able to even his breathing out back to normalish.

“So… Will we take action to these places that Lance might be in?”

“Well… That’s the goal but… But isn’t looking good. Both places are heavily guarded and we are down one member. Right now going to either one would just be suicide.”

“But we… We have-”

“I know Keith. We all want Lance back but it just… It isn’t looking good right now. But we are going to do everything we can, Keith. You know that.”

“I- I know…”

There was a moment of silence. 

“So… How long is it going to take that I can get off this bed?”

“A little longer.”

\-----

It took three days and a psychological evaluation to get Keith released from the restraints. He had been relieved for like a… second, until he remembered the situation and the weight on his shoulders came back.

He had been… surprisingly calm. Considering his first reaction. The heavy mental medication might have had something to do with it. Though he had woken up at night gasping for breath, screaming for Lance against his pillow and crying uncontrollably.

It was just crushing… Not knowing and at the same time knowing just what could be happening right now.

Because either Lance was dead or he was… prisoner somewhere on an enemy camp and he was painfully aware of why they would keep Lance alive, information, and what they could be doing to get it. What they would be doing.

And it didn’t help that they hadn’t gotten anywhere. In order to get a permission for a rescue mission they would need a full team and confirmation that the rescue would be where they needed to infiltrate. 

They had neither.

\-------------

“This is bullshit!” Keith threw some papers from his hands flying to the air. They scattered around.

“It’s been three weeks and we still don’t have anything! And we aren’t doing anything!”

“Keith, calm down.” Came Shiro’s demanding voice.

“No I will not calm down! I have been calm and it hasn’t gotten me anywhere. We aren’t any closer to finding Lance than we were three weeks ago! I'm tired of just sitting around and being calm!”

“Keith we are doing everything we can…” Hunk weakly supplied in.

“No! No we are not! We are supposed to be doing something! We should attack the possible places Lance could be in and just find him! We don’t need some bullshit corporations permission, fuck that!”

“It’s more than that Keith. If we would just go storming into those places we would be sure to just get ourselves, and quite possibly, Lance, killed. You know that.” Allura said with that matter of fact voice of hers.

“But can’t just sit there! We need to find Lance! He’s… He’s out there and all we know he could be…” Keith couldn’t continue on. Fuck. Not again. He could not break down again. He couldn’t take it anymore. He just kept crying and crying. He couldn’t sleep when he just woke up every time from the nightmares of blood, blood, so much blood. And he was screaming and gasping for breath and he wasn’t there. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. It was… It was too much. He needed it to stop.

All his teammates could do was watch as Keith sank to his knees trying to push the panic away. It was sad how they already knew that they just couldn’t do anything. Keith couldn’t hear them and touching him would just set him off. All they could do was wait for him to calm down enough that he allowed himself to be touched again. It was usually Shiro or Hunk to hold him after when he just kept shaking and crying and it was… It was so hopeless.

Only person who would be able to fix it was Lance. And Lance wasn’t there.

 

\-----

It was never dark in the base. But there was at least fewer lights on during night time and, more importantly, fewer people. And so, skilled at knowing where the guards or other people were moving, Keith was sure to avoid them as he was making his way through the hallways.

The straps of the throwing knife belts were tight across his tense muscles. He was clutching a knife in his hand. Cold determination settled over his mind. He was past the point of caring. No one could stop him. All he wanted to do was go out there and at least do something. Anything. He wanted to kill them. He wanted to kill them all. Anyone remotely related to the people who had taken Lance were going to die in his hands if he just got to them.

And if anyone was going to stop him… Well he wasn’t going to let anyone stand in his way.

And nobody did. At least, not until he got outside. That was when someone jumped at him. Instincts kicking in, Keith was quick to throw the attacker off, the attacker as equally quick to be ready for such a move. They did a somersault and were quickly back on their feet, facing Keith.

“Shiro? What the fuck!” Keith exclaimed furiously.

“No Keith. What the fuck are you doing? You think I don’t know exactly what you are trying?”

“Well I guess not. Hopefully you also realise that you can’t stop me.” Keith readied his stance. Gripping his knife tightly in his hand.

“Then I hope you are ready to kill me with that knife of yours because you are continuing only over my cold dead body.”

“Shiro, get out of my way. You don’t need to concern yourself with this!” Keith said dangerously through gritted teeth.

“Yes I do! Keith, I am not letting you go off and get yourself killed!”

“You can’t stop me!”

With a quick move, Keith grabbed one of the throwing knives, throwing it in Shiro’s way. It was only going to hit him in the shoulder but Shiro was able to dodge it. Totally unfazed by Keith’s actions. Keith lunged forward, slicing air with his Knife as Shiro kept dodging his attacks and retreating.

Mid his attacks, Keith threw a new knife. Busy dodging the other attack of the swing of Keith’s knife hand, Shiro was just a little bit too slow to dodge and the knife grazed Shiro’s metallic prosthetic arm. Making a mean noise.

The fight continued on unperturbed with Keith still swinging his knife with deadly lashes. Figuring he couldn’t just keep dodging for forever, Shiro decided to take a different approach. He stopped one of Keith’s attacks by grabbing him by the wrist. Keith grabbed one of his throwing knives instead. While Shiro tried to squeeze Keith’s wrist hard enough for him to drop his knife, he also had to yet again dodge Keith’s attacks. And once Keith raised his arm for another swing, Shiro kicked him in the knee. Throwing him off balance and making the coming attack weak and easy to dodge. Using Keith’s weakened stance in his favour, Shiro twisted Keith’s arm still in his grasp making Keith yelp with pain. With the twist in his muscles, Keith couldn’t help but let go of his knife.

After that however, Keith was quick to once again respond with his own attack. He flung his other leg back just enough to gain enough momentum that when he flung it back, his whole body followed. This volt changed his and Shiro’s positions enough that his arm was released from Shiro’s hold. Keith took advantage of his freedom by hitting a hard hit with his elbow to Shiro’s side.

The fight continued on with only muscle power. Both throwing hits and kicks where there was an opportunity and the other either dodging, blocking or taking the hit. It was quick and skilled. Just what you would expect from two hand to hand combat training soldiers. No one ordinary would have lasted longer than a minute. But neither Shiro nor Keith was ordinary. In fact, the fight kept dragging on because they were, in fact, quite equally skilled and strong. Both giving and getting about the same amount of hits.

Finally Keith threw himself away from with an impressive volt, during which he pulled his handgun out of it’s ankle holster. Landing on his feet facing Shiro, he loaded the gun aiming it straight on Shiro’s heart. Both men froze to their spots.

They were panting and Shiro carefully moved his eyes from the end of the gun to Keith’s eyes.

“If you’re going and I can’t stop you… Then I'm going with you.”

“What? No! You’ll get killed!”

“And you think you won’t?”

“I don’t care! I just have to do something!”

“Getting yourself killed isn’t going to do anything! This isn’t what Lance would want!”

“Fuck you!” Keith moved his other hand on the gun too to get a better grip. “You don’t get to say what Lance would or wouldn’t want!”

“But you know it’s true yourself!”

“I don’t care anymore! I have to- I have to find him!”

“But you’re not going to find him!”

“You don’t know that! I- I have to atleast try…”

“Keith… Please…”

“I’m done listening to you. You can’t stop me.”

“Well then I’m going with you.”

“No, you're not.”

“Yes. I am. You can either shoot me right here right now or let me come with you but I'm not letting you go otherwise.”

Keith stared at Shiro with fury in his eyes. His hands were shaking. The silence went on and Shiro didn’t turn away his piercing gaze. Finally… Keith lowered his gun, huffing a defeated breath.

“God… I hate you.”

Shiro chuckled. “Maybe.”

“Okay, so you guys done?” Keith startled and whipped around pointing his gun towards the speaker.

“Pidge? What the fuck? I almost shot you!”

“Yeah, emphasis on almost.”

“What are you doing here?” Keith questioned through gritted teeth.

“Well, I'm coming too obviously!”

“What? No, you are not.”

“Yes. I am.”

“No, you aren’t.”

“Yes. I am.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No! Pidge! You are not coming with us!”

“To put in Shiro’s words. You either shoot me now or I'm going with you. Otherwise you are not leaving anywhere.”

“Pidge this is a suicide mission! You could die!”

“And so, there’s no way I'm letting you go anywhere without me. You would be dead in like five minutes without me!”

“Pidge please…”

“Don’t ‘Pidge please’ me. I’m coming and you can’t stop me. If you think you will get out of here with me in the way, you must be crazy.”

“What? What’re you gonna do?”

“Well… Issue a lockdown alarm, bringing every guard and soldier we have out here to stop you. Lock all the gates, doors, windows etc. And trap you in my traps and shock you unconscious. That would be the start.”

“What if I just tie you up before you can do anything?”

“Well then… The alarm I set off, and only I can stop, would go off in… three minutes and twenty three seconds.”

Keith groaned loudly flailing his arms in frustration. “You are impossible!”

“No, you are impossible, thinking that you could just go off on your own on some suicide rescue mission and get yourself killed? Not gonna happen buddy.”

Keith tried to hurt Pidge with his eyes but the brunette just stared him unfazed.

“One minute thirty seven seconds by the way…”

“Fine! You can come!”

Flashing Keith a sunny smile, Pidge typed in a code in the device in their hand, killing off the alarm.

“And just to remind you not to change your mind, there, a new alarm in eight minutes.”

Keith let out an annoyed sigh. “I hate you.”

“Oh c'mon, you love us.”

Keith turned away huffing annoyed puffs of air out of his nose, only to once again lift his gun when he saw a dark figure move in the shadow.

“Who’s there?”

“Woah!” Clatter as something seemed to fall down. “Keith it’s just me! Hunk!”

“Oh for the love of-” Keith threw his arms in frustration when Hunk walked closer so they could see him. “Not you too? How did any of you even knew to find me?”

“Well I don’t know about those two but I set alarm if you ever decided to move too much or your door opened in odd hours.” Pidge said.

“A magician never reveals his tricks.” Shiro supplied in with a sly smile.

“You’re not a magician Shiro and it wasn’t a magic trick.” Keith answered with a deadpan look. Shiro only shrugged.

“So let me guess,” Keith started turning back towards Hunk, “You wanna come too?”

“Well um… I’d hope none of us had to go but if that’s the only choice then yes… I- I’m coming too.”

“Well then… Why can’t I stop you?”

“U-Uh… I- Um… Well technically I don’t have some fancy alarms like Pidge or I’m not- I'm not Shiro but I… I’m coming. And you can’t stop me.”

“Oh c’mon Hunk! You can do better than that, threaten him with your bombs or something!” Pidge offered.

“What? No! I would never do that!”

Pidge shrugged and made a “well, I guess that’s true” -face.

“Hunk you can’t come. It will be dangerous, really, dangerous.”

Hunk turned to look Keith in the eyes and Keith found himself fell surprisingly small under that gaze. Very rarely did Hunk look so… Steely, strong - even angry. There was no talking back to that look.

“Keith, you are not the only one who cares for Lance. Lance is my best friend and if we are going to rescue him then I'm going too.”

Keith found it rather difficult to keep eye contact with Hunk any longer, turning his gaze he muttered, “All Right. You can come.”

“Good.”

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Pidge asks.

“Uh… Well…”

“You don’t have a plan?” Pidge asks unimpressed.

“Well my original plan was to steal a car, drive to the closer enemy base that Lance could be on and… Go from there.”

The was a moment of silence as everybody looked at Keith incredulously.

“Seriously? I swear, all of would be dead in five minutes without me!”

“Hey, it wasn’t my plan Pidge!” Shiro exclaimed.

“Yeah, well I’ll bet you weren’t gonna add anything to it either. You just would have been two idiots instead of one barging into an enemy base without… anything! Idiots, I tell ya!”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Well what’s your plan then?”

“Well, unlike you, I have already been planning a strategy for both enemy bases. Figuring out their weak spots, devices I could play with, structure etc, you know the deal. And I have to say that the one located farther from us is actually a better place to go first. It’s bigger, with more security and so, with more prisoners under guard. And since Lance is a part of team Voltron, assuming they know that, he is probably one of the higher ranking prisoners. Now, since we are down our best sniper, it would probably be better to cut off the other one too, sorry Hunk. And have Hunk instead play with some of his explosives. Some to strategically draw the enemy attention away from us and some to take as much of them out as possible. Since we are going rogue, we should steal one of the on road tech cars, so I can help you from those rather than from here the base. It should be easy enough to disable their tracking systems and whatnot… As for you and Shiro, you should take much heavier weaponry. Because even though this mission should start as quietly as possibly, there’s a good chance it will escalate into big big front line battle with multiple enemies and in that case, a machine gun is much better than some throwing knifes, c’mon Keith. And based on what all of you have now, you aren’t nearly prepared armory vice enough. So I would say our mission starts with breaking into the vault and getting us some weapons.”

There was a stunned silence after Pidge stopped talking. They rounded their eyes over the people staring at them in shock.

“What?”

“You… You really have put some thought into this.” Said Hunk.

“Well yeah! I knew it would only be a matter of time before we couldn’t stop Keith anymore. If we are going on a suicide mission, then it better be at least a good one.”

“Okay then… Um… Let’s do what Pidge said then.” Keith said.

“Exactly.”

Pidge started by handing them all intercom pieces to put into their ears. With a reminder that they were, in fact, in home base and that the people here weren’t enemies and should therefore not be killed, she sent them in their way to the weaponry vault.

“Pidge is fucking scary sometimes…” Hunk said as the vault simply clicked open before them.

“Sometimes?” Shiro questioned.

“Oh yeah… Well.” Hunk agreed.

And then they were already at the garage. Pidge sitting in one of the tech cars.

“I ran a primitive check in things. It seems our actions have not been noticed by anyone just yet. Still, we should hurry.” They stated without lifting her gaze from the computer screen.

“I’m disabling all of your, and mine, tracking devices as we speak. Unfortunately, once we head off through the main gate, our escape will instantly be alerted by the tower guards.”

“That’s okay, even if they decided to chase us, we will get a pretty damn good head start.” Shiro stated.

“Okay then. You guys got everything I told you to get?” Pidge asked. Everybody nodded.

“Then let’s head off!”

They closed the doors, everybody settling in their places. Shiro on the driver’s seat, Keith on the passenger seat. Hunk and Pidge in the back, scrambled in around all the tech in there. Just before Shiro started the car, Keith turned to look his teammates.

“This is the last chance to turn back. Are you sure you want to come?”

After everybody shot Keith unimpressed gazes he turned around to look straight ahead. “Right then. I’ll shut up.”

“I’m opening the front gates. Shiro, hit it!”

And so they were off. Heading towards their suicide mission to rescue their lost team member and comrade. Not even knowing if there was anyone left to save...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! The second chapteeeer. Wooow. I was at a friend's place the whole week and couldn't really be on my computer and finish this but here you go!
> 
> Aah... I'm like so scared when I can't write this because I keep thinking this and there is this dialogue and plot in my head that I need to get out before it just... disappears or something! Plus I'm leaving for inter rail in like few weeks and if I haven't finished this by then, then there will be a month long absence and well.. then I will probably never finish this knowing myself... (haha it's not like I already have like ... four? five? other fics unfinished at the moment...)
> 
> Anyway... What did you think? I'm always happy to get comments, keeps me motivated.


	3. Steve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My story keeps changing from my "original" ideas, goddammit. Well I guess it isn't a bad thing? It's better this way, right? Right? That's what you get from _not planning everything out before you write_

 

Something was happening. There was noises, people running, people shouting. Lance lied on his back listening to them, trying to decide whether it was worth it to even try moving. This wasn’t the first time it _seemed_ like something was happening and then Lance had only been let down by finding out it was nothing. Nothing he should care about anyway.

 

Because all he cared about was his teammates and the possibility that he could see them again. Hope, that annoying old thing, was the only thing keeping him alive right now and losing it would mean his impending doom.

 

Well… There was a strong possibility that seeing Keith again would kill him too. Maybe he would find peace and just… Let go.

 

The noises weren’t stopping. In fact, they seemed just to be getting louder and louder, more and more people running back and forth his cell. Which was definitely unusual. There was usually nobody here.

 

Lance opened his eyes to look at the gray roof atop him. And then slowly he turned his head and looked out the bars of his cell. Seeing someone run past his door once again.

 

And Lance wondered… Could this be it? Could it be happening? Could they… Could they be… here?

 

Now Lance wanted to move, yet he couldn’t. His body was heavy, pain pulsing through it. It was like fire. But moving would make it flare up from a candlelight into a bonfire. He wasn’t sure he could do it.

 

“What do you think is happening?” His room mate, or cell mate if you will, asked.

 

“Well… Maybe my friends finally decided to blast their way in here.” Lance rasped out weakly. God. That took almost all his strength. “Steve” turned to look at him incredulously. It had been days maybe since he had even talked. The silence had been surprise for him too. They had been sharing this cell almost the whole time Lance had even had a cell. At first “Steve” (Lance had chosen to call him Steve because the man refused to tell their real name) had become to learn that Lance was really chatty. Always cracking jokes, yelling insults to the guards, laughing, singing, just being his annoying self like always. Then, as Steve watched them take Lance away for hours at a time a day and day again, he had slowly seen how Lance had been broken down and finally… Lance had stopped talking. And Steve had been the one to fill the silence, but not for days had he gotten a single answer.

 

“You say that every time something seems to be happening outside.”

 

“Yeah, because one time I will be right and I get to say ‘I told you so’”, Lance whispered barely even audible.

 

Steve actually smiled at him, the man feeling relieved to see that this person, so full of life when he got here, wasn’t completely broken down after all. His smile faded after a while however. Even if Lance was right and his friends were coming… It just might be that they were too late. Looking at the body lying on the bed, it was barely recognizable.

 

His skin was covered in bruises all around. His left eye was swollen shut. His face was full of cuts and even scars. Lips chapped and ripped. Yet the worst thing was to see just how thin he was. His cheeks were hollow, all muscle shrunken away from his body. The boy was beginning to look like a skeleton. Now fully in view because he was only wearing pants. The inflamed scars looking raw and red on his shoulder and hip. There was more cuts and scars covering his whole upper body, probably down his legs too. The boy looked like he already had one feet in the grave.

 

“Yeah, well we’ll see about that.”

 

“Just wait and see. They will come and you and I will be saved.”

 

They settled into a silence once again so as to concentrate on the noises outside their cell.

 

At first it kind of stayed the same. An alarm was going off somewhere, not that loud where they were. There was people running and people shouting orders that Lance couldn’t understand because of the language. Then there was something closer, as in, Lance could hear one of the cell doors opened down the hallway. A sound which he recognized because it was similar to the sound of his own cell door opening, a sound he had come to dread.

 

And after the cell door noise, there was two gunshots. Lance froze.

 

Footsteps, another door opened, another two shots. And again. And again. The noises coming closer and closer.

 

“Can you hear that?” Lance asked. Steve nodded.

 

The noises were much much closer now. There was probably only one cell between theirs and the one the gunman was entering currently. Now the noises were accompanied by desperate begs. “No please! Stop! Please!” A gunshot.

 

Lance’s whole body screamed when he got up. But the adrenaline running through his veins right now made it possible. Something inside him had kicked in. Soldier instinct? No, more like just pure animal will to survive. Lance was damned if he was going to be shot like a dog after all he had gone through.

 

“They are shooting all the prisoners dead”, he whispered as he changed places. Moving away from the bed right in front of the door and into the corner beside the door. Steve took the other side. Looking positively nauseous. The noises were exiting the cell next to them.

 

The door opened. Two men entered. Steve jumped on the other one.

 

Lance wanted to do the same but he was basically like a rag doll in his current state, it would do nothing. The other man was already lifting his gun to shoot Steve. They were gonna die.

 

But, maybe someone up there wanted to give Lance a final chance, because, by some miracle, Steve was able to get the gun from the man he was wrestling with, and it slid right in front of Lance. His sharpshooter instincts kicking in, he grabbed the gun and with two bangs he shot down both men. The other didn’t even have the time to try and shoot Steve.

 

Once both men collapsed to the floor, so did Lance.

 

“Lance. Lance!” Steve came hurriedly to him and lifted him to sit down. Lance smiled weakly at him.

 

“Damn… How on earth did you even do that? You’re basically a dead man walking.”

 

Lance chuckled. “Well… I had my last adrenaline kick… I’m running out though. I can’t- I can’t move.”

 

“Lance, you are not allowed to die right now. We are finally getting out of here. And I'm not going to leave you behind after you saved my old sorry ass.”

 

“You… Should… Like you said… I'm a dead man walking…”

 

“Then you’re walking out of here with me.”

 

Lance let out a sigh. “You walk. I’ll shoot?”

 

“Deal.”

 

Steve grabbed the other guards gun and keys and then heaved Lance up and pulled Lance’s hand over his shoulder and then kept him up by his hip. He waited for a moment for Lance to find some strength to stand and lift his head. There was tears coming from his eyes. Steve was surprised that Lance didn’t make a sound even though the pain must have been unimaginable. He looked so tortured, sick and ready to collapse. Yet he didn’t.

 

After a moment Steve realized that this wasn’t going to work. He was basically holding Lance’s whole weight and the dude was probably going to faint even from a single step.

 

This boy was not going to walk out of here. Lance turned his blue pain filled eyes to Steve. Looking like he realized this too.

 

“Steve just leave me. You still have a chance.” He whispered.

 

“Shut your mouth child.”

 

With one scoop, Steve lifted Lance up bridal style. He took a deep breath, steadying himself. Steve was already quite an old man. At the start Lance’s spirit, which was so full of life, had annoyed this bitter old man the most. But seeing it disappear, made even the reason to live lost man determined about something. That something being that as long as there was life behind those blue eyes of the boy, he was going to fight for him.

 

Because out there “Steve” had nobody, but Lance had family.

 

And so, even though, Steve too was weak because of his imprisonment, he found some strength to carry the poor boy. It did help that Lance was almost only skin and bones at the moment anyway.

 

And so, Steve started walking. Walking out of the cell he had been trapped in for days now. He guessed he should be glad, for if he had gotten out of that cell, the only thing that would have caused it was the same thing that Lance had been dragged off to everyday, torture.

 

Only moments before there had been people going back and forth on this hallway but now it was empty. Another lucky event today. Maybe someone was on their side.

 

Having no idea where he would end up walking either way on this hallway, Steve flipped an imaginary coin and went right. To the direction the gunmen had came from.

 

He felt little guilty looking back towards the other cells left of their that still probably held prisoners inside. But Steve had no way of knowing what kind of prisoners they were and whether or not they would help them or stop them. Steve only knew Lance. And right now his only goal was to get Lance and himself out of there. He felt even more guilty when he saw the dead prisoners on the other cells as he walked past them.

 

Lance was quiet. His right eye that could still be open unlike his left one was drooping. Steve didn’t talk either. Too scared someone could hear them and wanting to keep all his focus and strength at holding Lance in his arms and continuing on.

 

Coming towards a corner, Steve could hear voices and footsteps. At the last moment he flattened himself against the wall and stayed there. Five men walked past them, too focused on running forward to see them. Just one look on the soldiers' right and they would have been done for.

 

After they had passed, Steve wondered for a moment whether to turn right or left. The men had came from left and went right. It was probably wiser to stay clear of them, but at the same time, it was possible that there would be more soldiers ahead of them on the left. Then again, maybe it was inevitable to not run across anyone. Steve just wondered whether or not it would be their end then.

 

And so, Steve turned left. He was pretty sure their escape was hopeless but he had to at least try. He had to keep going as long as he could.

 

Steve looked at Lance briefly. The boy’s eye was closing and then fluttering back open.

 

“Don’t you fucking dare pass out on me.” He whispered.

 

There was a smile-ish twitch at the corner of Lance’s mouth. “Sorry…” He rasped out, voice even quieter than before, “The pain is kind of killing me…”

 

Steve gulped and didn’t say anything. He just kept on going. Move. Keep going. Until you can’t.

 

There was a door at the end of the hallway. One that was locked, Steve found out as he came before it. It looked to be opened with some kind of keycard maybe. A panel next to it with a red light.

 

“Fuck…” Steve cursed quietly. Does he go back? That was probably the only answer. He was an idiot for not checking if the guards had some other keys with them. But, just as Steve was ready to turn back the light turned green next to the door, a soft clicking noise heard as the door parted slightly. Steve tensed, fearing that next someone would come through that door, because it was only logical that the door had opened because someone was coming through it from the other side. Yet, nobody did.

 

Nervously, Steve reached out and, using his elbow and feet, pulled the door open. There was nobody behind it.

 

“I’m starting to get really suspicious about all these lucky coincidences that are happening…” Steve whispered.

 

There was another hallway behind the door. What if there was another door at the end of this one and it would be locked? What if they would just get trapped between these two doors? Steve was unsure but then again… He couldn’t know whether some other route was better or not. Just keep going. Maybe they would get lucky… Just maybe…

 

There was a another door at the end of the hallway. But, it too had a green light next to it and Steve could just push it open with his foot. There were stairs. Another hallway. Another green lighted door. A new hallway, a new cross way, one in which Steve could see both doors at the end of their hallways. There was one difference between them though, one had a green light, the other had red light. Steve figured his only option was the green light door.

 

_I'm feeling really guided here_ , Steve thought but kept going and once again pushed a door open with his foot.

 

Steve was surprised to find that he had entered a hall, some kind of storage hall, instead of a hallway, behind the door. One that had windows high up in the ceiling, shining natural dim light inside. They were too high to climb out of but still, they were there. They were one wall away from outside. They had hope.

 

Of course… It was bound to go shit from there. Guess their luck had to end at some point.

 

Because there was soldiers coming in from another door left wall from them. Heavily armed and instantly noticing them.

 

Steve had nowhere close enough to hide and take cover. The closest possible place was a stack of wooden boxes that were at least ten feet away.

 

Steve tried, all he could do was try, but it was too far away for them and the time it took Steve to get there was enough for the soldiers. They opened fire and just at the last jump towards the hideout place, Steve could feel something pierce through him.

 

They fell behind the boxes. As Lance hit the floor, unbelievable pain shot through him and his vision whited out for a moment. It was all dizzy and blurry when he could see again and moving was not an option. Yet, as he heard a noise, a cry of pain, beside him, he turned his head to look.

 

“Steve?” Lance whispered. There was blood pulsing through Steve’s fingers, his hand held atop his chest. 

 

“I’m sorry Lance, I'm sorry I can’t get us out of here.” Steve whispered.

 

“No… Steve, you’re the one that had a chance. You’re the one that was supposed to survive.”

 

“I… I have nothing waiting for me outside this place. It’s okay…”

 

“Steve… Please… Please don’t die…”

 

“M-My name is… R-Robert…” Steve, no Robert, whispered out with his last strength. There was blood coming out of his mouth and the heavy shaking started to fade until it stopped completely. The hand covering his chest flopped limp on the ground, blood still dripping out of the chest wound, even though there was no longer a heartbeat to pump it out. The look in Robert’s brown eyes turned blank and Lance was left staring into those cold dead eyes.

 

“No… No! Robert! Fuck…” There was tears streaming down from the corners of Lance’s eyes now. He tried to reach Robert with his hand but the few inches he could move it weren’t enough. And his body just couldn’t move any more.

 

It was sad that Lance could say that he was used to the pain by now. He had been in constant pain for three weeks now. Recently it had been more than pain however. His body couldn’t bear it anymore. The bullet wounds in his shoulder and hip never healing properly and so they had inflamed from the stress of the torture. His body attacking itself when it had no more strength to fight anymore. Lance had fought tooth and nail to stay alive by reserving his strength, not moving or talking or doing anything. But now…

 

The moving and the bad hit against the floor had been too much. The pain was worse than ever before. It rocked through him everywhere. So constant and tortuous… The pain was enough to cripple anyone, but it was even more than that, the fever and lack of strength weighing him down even more.

 

There was footsteps coming closer and Lance had to move if he wanted to stay alive. He still had the handgun in his hand. Maybe he could at least try to fight before…

 

Lance closed his eyes. He couldn’t move. And there was no point in fighting. He could have survived maybe a week or so if nothing like this had happened. But now, he was out. There was no strength left. There was no hope. The footsteps coming closer meant that he was going to die in just a few minutes.

 

Funny… Lance always thought that his last thoughts would be of Keith. Or his team. Hunk, Shiro, Pidge, Allura, hell even Coran. Or his family. But he had thought about them ever since he was imprisoned here. And now… The only thing he could think about was Robert.

  
  


\-----------------------------

  
  


_ “Could you stop?” Robert spit out, covering his ears. _

 

_ “No can do Steve.” Lance said quickly before continuing on his terrible terrible singing at the top of his lungs. _

 

_ Robert let out a shout of rage. “Aaaargh! If you don’t stop now, I'm going to hit you!” _

 

_ Lance stopped singing at that because, instead, he started laughing. “I would like to see you try old man.” And again, he started singing. _

 

_ “Soooooooomeeeeeee wheeeeeeeereeeeee ooooooovvvveeeeerrrr theeee rainboooooowwww, the skyyyyys areeeee blueeeeeeee. Soooooommmeeeeeewheeereeeee….” _

 

_ “That song doesn’t even go like that!” _

 

_ “Dreeeeaaaaaammmmmsssss coooomeeeeee truuuuuuuuueeeeee.” _

 

_ “I swear if you don’t cut it out, right now…” _

 

_ “Sooooooooommeeeeeeewheeeeereeeeee ooooooveeeeeer the raaaaaaainboooooow” _

 

_ “CUT IT OUT YOU FUCKER!” came a loud yell behind the door and the guard banged the door with his foot. Lance only smirked and continued to sing even louder. Way off key and not even really singing the right lyrics. _

 

_ It didn’t take long for the guard to angrily open the door with his keys and basically kick it inside, the heavy door banging loudly against the wall. Lance was still smirking and still singing and the guard walked right to him where he was sitting on a bed. He ripped the man down to the floor. Lance still sang. It was a little choppy now because he was also laughing. _

 

_ The first kick to Lance’s stomach was still not enough to shut him up. It took a second really fucking hard kick right to his gut to get the boy to stop. Lance oofed and curled around his stomach as pain shot through him. _

 

_ “If you fucking open your bitch ass mouth again I'm gonna beat you dead you piece of shit!” The guard yelled, then kicked Lance once more and stormed out of the cell. _

 

_ After Lance could get his breathing right again, he was once again smirking. _

 

_ “Are you nuts boy?” _

 

_ Lance started laughing. _

 

_ “Do you have a deathwish?” _

 

_ Lance laughed harder. _

 

_ “Oh my god…” _

 

_ After Lance got himself to calm down a little, he smirked up to the old man sitting on his own bed. “Got you to talk didn’t I?” _

 

_ Robert pursed his lips tight and turned his head. Refusing to look at Lance or talk any more that night. _

  
  


_ But later, the man woke up as he could, once again, hear singing from his young cellmate. Only this time it was quiet, soft and totally in note. It was beautiful, and sad. _

 

_ “Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow. Why then, oh, why can’t I? If happy little bluebirds fly. Beyond the rainbow. Why, oh, why can’t I?” _

 

_ In the end Robert didn’t say anything but Lance noticed that his eyes were open and he was listening. After a moment of eye contact, Lance turned to his other side so Robert couldn’t see his face anymore. _

  
  


\--------------------------

  
  
“Lance!” It was Keith. Lance could hear Keith’s voice. Guess he really would think about Keith in his final moments after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was reeeeeaaally hard to get past the writer's block to write this. I had like... No idea how to start and I hated this at one point, now I have made piece with it and kind of like it? I guess? The problem with writing fanfiction and publishing it right away that you can't really change anything major from the already published chapter, like, I've been reading lot of Shiro/Keith/Lance fics right now and totally ship it and I guess this could have been that too.. I'll settle for Klance for now. Am I a horrible writer who is just bullshitting her way through this fic?? Intercoms?? Army vocabulary?? I'm not a native English speaker and army/medical stuff isn't something I'm that familiar with besides from tv shows/movies/books/fics etc... And I do not have the energy to do some "real research" and be realistic or some shit so..... If you feel like I'm horrible and all, I will appreciate some good critical feedback but I'm not that sure how much I can fix and if it annoys you too much then you better just stay clear...
> 
> Also?? What is wrong with me, why do I keep writing the same words wrong over and over again?? No me, it's not noiCe, strengHT, bareLY, goddammit why do I keep writing them that way? Thank god for autocorrect and google translate, big help I tell you.
> 
> Why am I ranting here at the end notes of my fic? TMI much? Well... In real life I don't really talk about, or tell about, the fact that I write fanfiction so I need some place to rant.
> 
> Hey, If you did like this, I'm always happy to get comments! (I seek validation and motivation to keep writing)
> 
> Also, I have a tumblr. Um... My tumblr is a mess if I'm honest with you. Fandom specific blogs, what are those? But I don't know... If you wanna follow me or message me or something, here you go: [how the fuck do you do some cool, click this word and you will go to this link thingies? oh what ever]
> 
> http://living-in-a-fantacy-land.tumblr.com/


	4. There's no victory in pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue mission from the rescuers' PoV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hello there! Long time no see XD 
> 
> I'm so sorry

“Okay, so… We managed to shake off our troops that were following us after our escape. I have completely shut us off from them and Allura is going to kill us after we get back. Though it’s better that she isn’t involved so that maybe she can speak for us if we return in one piece and hopefully with Lance…” Pidge took a small moment of silence. “Anyway! So we kind of lost a lot of time last night arguing and escaping and then it was a project in and of itself to set up Hunk’s explosives so by the time we were done it was already the morning…”

 

“Pidge why are you telling all this? We were there, we know all this.”

 

“Shut up! It helps me think!” Pidge snapped back at Keith who rolled his eyes. “Anyway… Where was I…?”

 

“Well you went through what we already did.” Hunk helped.

 

“Ah yes… That’s right. And now we will plan our strategy for tomorrow night and I’ll try to hack some things… And… Then we go rescue Lance.”

 

“Yeah!” Hunk exclaimed excited. Though, nobody joined in so he lowered his raised fist embarrassed. He mouthed his apology with a wince. Keith was scowling at the ground.

 

“What is it you grouch?” Pidge asked tiredly and with a big sigh. Keith raised his gaze to them.

 

“I just… Why aren’t we going there now? Hunk’s explosives are ready. Let’s just go already! It’s pointless to just sit around all day!”

 

“For your information, this isn’t pointless. I need time to hack their system. And during day time they will have higher security and… C’mon, you’re not dumb. You know all this. We aren’t doing this to get ourselves killed, remember? We are doing this to rescue Lance. And even if this is a suicide mission most probably, we still gotta try to go through it with at least some sense and a plan. This is for Lance, Keith. We need to be smart.”

 

Keith was scowling at the ground again. “All right, all right. I get it. And I know this. I just… I just wish we could do something already.”

 

“We will. You just need to be patient.”

 

Keith didn’t answer back anymore, still staring at the ground with anxiety and worry clouding his features.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

“I know we have said that this is a “suicide mission” several times but I swear, if any of you get killed, I’m gonna kill you myself.”

 

“Because that’s a totally logical threat Pidge”, Keith scoffed.

 

“Shut up! Now go save your boyfriend jackass!”

 

Keith smirked at Pidge again and once they raised their fist for a group fistbump, he joined in together with Shiro and Hunk.

 

And with that, they were off.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

“Okay, if you continue on that hallway, there should be a staircase that leads to downstairs at the end of the hallway. You will be underground so I'm a little worried how well our coms will hold up but just remember, go down, then through the hallway, make one right and one left and you should be at the first prison cells. If we are lucky Lance will be there and not, he’ll be in the ones on the other side of the fort.”

 

“How much soldiers do you think will be on our way?”

 

“Well with Hunk’s bomb distraction most of them are on the north side of the base. But from the security feeds I’ve hacked to see what’s going on, there seems to be at least two guards at the cells.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Remember to stay quiet!”

 

“Yeah, we are at the staircase now.”

 

Pidge followed them from the security feed. Their programs were actively keeping them under their command while it should only show empty hallways to whoever was supposed to be guarding the feeds. The trio of Keith, Shiro and Hunk were just going through the door into the staircase. There wasn’t any cameras there and so for the thirty seconds or so that they had time to spare, they started flipping through all of the other security feeds. Starting from the decoy bomb area that was filled with soldiers, going through hallways that were some empty and some had soldiers running on them going one way or another, most of them heading towards the blast area. Finally se found the cameras that seemed to show the prison cell hallways.

 

“We ar- down st---rsss. --ding -owards- e --- -ells-”

 

“Guys the thicker walls seem to be cutting you off a bit. Can you hear me?”

 

“-at-? Can --u -eper- -at?”

 

Pidge sighed, not bothering to answer since they probably wouldn’t hear them anyway. Instead they went back to the security feeds to monitor their movement. Luckily enough the trio weren’t stupid enough to just be standing around because they couldn’t connect to Pidge anymore. The trio were heading towards the cells like instructed.

 

They only watched with moderate interest as they arrived and took out the guards still there, instead opting out checking the other cameras for possible incoming threats while Keith, Shiro and Hunk had started to go through the prison cells. Luckily for them, there wasn’t any soldiers heading their way.

 

And so Pidge turned their attention to the number two hallway of prison cells that was located on the other side of heavily guarded fort they were invading. And what they saw felt like a cold grip squeezing their heart.

 

There were two guards going into the cells for a couple of moments before they came back to the hallway not bothering to close the door. Both loading their handguns again.

 

“Oh god no…” What if they were in the wrong hallway? What if Lance was in those cells and they were just about to witness their horrible “wrong place wrong time” -moment. What if Lance was in one of those cells and was about to be shot to the death?

 

They turned their attention to the other prison cell hallway the others were currently at. Currently reaching the very last cells seeming to have come up empty on the all previous ones. And once Keith came back to the hallway from the last one, visibly agitated and eyes full of anger, it was clear that the last prison on that hallway was a bust too.

 

And so with panic gripping them tight, Pidge turned their attention back to the cells where a massacre was currently going on. The guards already half way up the hallway. Just about to go into another cell. What if Lance was there? And they had chosen the wrong place to look and now he was about to die? Maybe… Maybe they were in the wrong place entirely. Maybe Lance wasn’t held here. Maybe…

 

Pidge’s thought process was interrupted as instead of the two guards, two clearly prisoners came out of the last cell the guards had went into. The other an old man and the other... Pidge’s heart leapt into their throat for a moment. Oh God it was him! It was Lance! It had to be Lance!

 

The boy was almost unrecognizable. He was thin, severally injured and half of his face was hidden in the man's chest that was carrying him while the other half of his face was beaten into ugly bruises and bumps.

 

But it was him. It had to be him. It was the same skin color, the same (slightly longer) hair, the right height. (Though he looked so small right now.)

 

“It’s him! It’s Lance! Guys I see Lance!”

 

“-at? W--t -id y-o say? Did -u -ay -a-ce?”

 

“Lance! Lance! I can see Lance!”

 

While the others only heard something like “-ance! Lan-! - -an -ee La-ce!” The message got across.

 

“--ere? Wh--- i- he? Where’s Lance?!” came Keith’s voice through the coms, urgent and pleading.

 

“He’s at the other cells! Or well… was there. Someone is carrying him.”

 

“We are heading there right now!”

 

“Stay alert there still might be enemies on your way- No! No! Fuck fuck fuck!”

 

“What Pidge what happened?”

 

“I couldn’t lock the door! Some guards got into the same hallway Lance is in! They are heading towards them! Fuck- Fuck I can’t- I can’t do anything! I-”

 

Pidge got silent all of a sudden as they watched with baited breath through the security feed how the soldiers were closing in on the cross way Lance and the other guy were getting towards. All she could do was pray because she had no way of blocking anyone’s path and the collision looked inevitable. Keith was yelling in their ear but Pidge could barely hear them over the ringing noise of horror. 

 

Then the miracle happened. The guy carrying Lance pressed himself against the wall and the soldiers walked right past them without even turning their heads. Pidge could finally breathe again.

 

“The guards didn’t see them. It’s okay”, Pidge intervened Keith’s frantic demanding of answers. There was a collective sigh of relief. Pidge followed the guards until they had went through another door and then they locked it so no keycard could get it to open again before someone hacked Pidge’s hack.

 

“Where is he now?”

 

“The guy carrying him went to the other direction the guards went. They are actually heading towards you. I’ll make sure they stay on the right path and meet you. But hurry! If any enemy catches them before you do, I don’t think they can defend themselves.”

 

“Who's the guy carrying Lance?”

 

“He looks like another prisoner. It looks like he’s helping Lance.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Pidge was now really busy since they were simultaneously opening the electronic doors for Lance, the trio and trying to lock all the others so that no enemies could get in their groups’ way. At the same time they tried to follow everybody’s movements through several security cameras while making sure their hack hadn't been defeated and people inside the fort weren’t actually seeing the real feed like Pidge was. They were kind of running out of hands.

 

And everything was going so well. Too well. Pidge could feel the dread build up in their stomach by every  second no problems came up. They had this sense, a gut feeling, that the other shoe was about to drop any minute now.

 

And it did. By some law of the universe, Pidge was left once again ( _ for a third fucking time _ ) to only watch without being able to do  _ anything _ but watch as something bad was about to unfold.

 

“Fuck! Fuck! Hurry guys! I just got Lance into this storage hall that’s right near you guys but there are others breaking down the door! If they get it to open they will be right-- Shit!”

 

And there it went. Four heavily armed soldiers got the door finally to cave in under their force even when Pidge had locked it. And Pidge had the perfect view with their cameras to see just what happened next. How the two prisoners tried to seek shelter but were shot down instead.

 

“NO!” they couldn’t help scream. They readjusted one camera to zoom in on the prisoners to see just what the damage was. They didn’t have any sound but Pidge could see the other prisoners lips moving, he was bleeding heavily from the chest, Lance was looking at him. Or at least so Pidge figured from his head’s position, they couldn’t really see Lance’s eyes. Then Lance’s lips were moving. He was still alive! But no- no no no no, they were both going limp, the enemy soldiers were walking closer, Pidge couldn’t do  _ anything _ ! No it couldn’t happen like this!

 

“No stop! Stop! Don’t you dare touch Lance! Guys do something! They’re about to kill him!”

 

Then they were there, Keith, Hunk and Shiro practically blasted their way through a third door, one opposite from where Lance and the other prisoner had gotten in. They opened fire immediately once seeing the enemy. One of the enemy guards going down. The others ducked down behind containers away from the fire, answering the trio with their own bullets. All of the guys had already gotten behind safe surfaces that took the fire instead.

 

“You need to take them down fast! I'm pretty sure they called back up! That storage hall will be full of enemies any minute now and you can’t give them time to reach Lance!”

 

“Can’t you lock them out of here?” Hunk asked.

 

“Well I have done that but they just break down the doors! Just take them out and get out of there!”

 

“We’re trying!” Keith growled.

 

Pidge was frustratedly left to watch as nobody got absolutely nothing done. Both were trying to shoot each other but both always docked behind various surfaces before the bullets could get them. They were getting absolutely nowhere.

 

“I’ve got an idea! I’ll cut off the lights! Put on your night vision goggles and take them out if you get the chance!”

 

Pidge watched from the cameras as all of their team members put on their goggles without question.

 

“Okay, we’re ready! Do your thing!” Shiro said.

 

And Pidge sure did. It was a good thing the base they were infiltrating was so technologically advanced. It meant that they could just hack their systems and use them from afar instead having to do it manually. Soon Pidge had cut off all the lights from the entire fort (if you have to do something, better to do it well).

 

And using the moment that the sudden darkness froze the enemies in their advantage, the trio made quick work of eliminating the threats. Not that Pidge could see it since the cameras were all just showing darkness now.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

The moment the coast was clear, Keith rushed to search for Lance. Pidge had said that he was here, right?

 

“Pidge where’s Lance?”

 

“I can’t really see you guys right now but he should be near the door opposite of the door you came in from. I doubt he has been able to move and he and his companion fell behind one of the containers there. You need to hurry and get out of there! The guys you just took out probably called for backup and I can’t see anything anymore since I got the lights!”

 

“We’ll get out of here as soon as we have Lance!” Keith yelled. He had been rushing towards the door he assumed was the one Pidge had talked about, checking behind all the containers on his way there just in case. And just as Keith had gotten that last line out, he finally reached the last container and found the two bodies lying behind it. And blood. So much blood.

 

“Lance!”

 

Keith rushed to the first body he saw. It was dark and even with his night vision goggles he couldn't really recognize which of these bodies were Lance. He gently cradled the closest body’s face in his hands. He could feel something wet soak into his knees and gloves. Blood. It was blood. Oh god, the body wasn’t breathing please don’t be Lance, please don’t be Lance.

 

It wasn’t, the guy had white skin and was clearly old. This must have been the one Pidge said was carrying Lance, so the other body must be-

 

Even in his rush to get to Lance as fast as Keith could, he still gently placed the body he was cradling back on the floor. He was dead. And he had helped Lance. He deserved at least some respect. But after that Keith all but leaped over the body and kneeled next to the other one.

 

“Lance? Lance!” 

 

As gentle as he could, he also softly cradled the boys face in his hand, lifting the body into his lap to see him more closely. And oh god- It was-

 

It was horrible.

 

Because Keith would recognise Lance from anywhere but he could barely recognise him like this. It was dark and his goggles weren’t showing really any details but even that couldn’t hide the horrible truth. Lance was so thin. And he was bruised and cut and bumped. He was lying there totally limp in Keith’s arms not responding to any of Keith’s repeated calls of his name. Panicked, Keith softly tried Lance’s pulse. And oh god he couldn’t feel it! It wasn’t there! Lance had no pulse!

 

“Lance! Lance! No don’t do this! Guys he has no pulse! He has no pulse! Lance wake up! Lance please! Don’t do this!” Keith kept frantically pleading to the limp corpse in his hands. There was tears starting to spill from his eyes and he couldn’t stop them and Lance wasn’t moving. Oh god he was dead. Lance was dead. Lance was dead. He was too late. He was too late and Lance was dead because of him this was all his fault…

 

“Keith! Keith stop it! He has a pulse! He’s not dead! Keith! Lance - is - not - dead!” It was Shiro, he was on the other side of Lance. One hand supporting Lance’s head and one gripping Keith’s shoulder tightly.

 

“He’s- He’s not?”

 

“His pulse is weak but it’s still there. Lance is still alive but we need to get out of here. You need to calm down!”

 

Keith turned to look at Lance in his arms once again. Then he leaned in to press his ear against Lance’s bare chest. He closed his eyes and concentrated and- Oh God there it was! A heartbeat! Lance wasn’t dead! He was still alive!

 

“Keith we need to leave if we wanna get out of here. Can you do that?”

 

Keith raised himself from Lance and nodded. Now wasn’t the time to panic or have feelings. He had to shut them out so they would make it out of this. He needed to calm down and get to action.

 

“Keith give Lance to me. I can carry him. We need you to be able to get out of here, okay?” Hunk said. Shiro stepped away as Hunk took his place. Gently supporting Lance’s head as the other prepared to move under Lance’s body.

 

“Okay? Give Lance to me?”

 

Keith didn’t want to give Lance up but God, now wasn’t the time to act because of feelings. He had to think rationally and it was rational for Hunk to carry Lance. Hunk was stronger and could support Lance better and Keith was the better hand to hand combat soldier and there was a good chance that they would still need to fight to get out of here. He had to let Lance go. Hunk would keep him safe. Hunk would keep him safe.

 

Keith nodded and helped Hunk to ease Lance into his arms, placing Lance’s head to the crook of Hunk’s arm and shoulder for support while Hunk hold Lance princess style behind the back and knees. He lifted his gaze from Lance’s beaten up face to look at Hunk in the eyes and the man gave him a reassuring nod with fierce determination in his eyes. Keith nodded back and finally removed his hold on Lance.

 

Swallowing, Keith got up and turned around. He had to ignore Lance’s presence if he wanted to be able to function. They had him. Lance was with them. They were going to get him out of here. If he wanted to focus he couldn’t see Lance and how horrible he looked.

 

He looked to Shiro. “How do we get out of here?”

 

The answer came from his com instead. “You can’t leave the way you came in it’s much too far. And you are much too far away from the second prison cell hall to use the route we planned beforehand. I’m trying to figure out the best route as we speak just wait… a moment… Aha! Go where the enemy guards came from, that’s the shortest route.”

 

“But is it the safest? We can handle a longer route but it’s better we don’t bump into any more guards than we have to”, Shiro asked.

 

“Taking the longer route increases the risk that you meet more guards than on the shorter route.”

 

“Alright then, lead the way.”

 

“Okay! So you through the door the other guys broke down, then head left. Remember, I can’t really see you in the cameras anymore, much less any enemies either so stay alert! And try to be quiet!”

 

“Roger that.”

 

They headed to the left and well… It sure didn’t take long for them to run into the next enemy. But the two coming towards them were clearly blind from the darkness while the trio (oh wait they had Lance now too, the quartet?) had their night vision goggles to see. It felt partly shitty to attack opponents that were basically blind but then again… They were part of the extreme believer galra organization that had started the war and even worse than that, they were part of the thing that had done _ this _ to Lance. Keith had no mercy for them. He wanted to  _ kill _ . 

 

Plus it wasn’t like they couldn’t not kill them. They were enemy and in their way and would try to kill them if they gave them the chance. A threat towards Lance’s safety. And so as the team they were Keith and Shiro were off, silent, quick and deadly. With only two targets it was back to good old knives (or in Shiro’s case hands) to take out the opponent.

 

Keith went with the good old slicing of the neck while Shiro banged his opponent against wall, knocking them off and then quickly finishing them off with a snap of the neck. God, the man made it look way too easy. One just didn’t  _ snap  _ someone’s neck. It wasn’t a twig, a human neck could be surprisingly strong. It took great strength to be able to do it and Shiro just… Well he made it look like that it was like snapping a fucking twig.

 

There wasn’t any further hassle. The enemy was eliminated. They could continue.

 

At the four way crossway Pidge guided them right. And hey no enemies there! But as they were halfway down the hall, there was a loud crash  _ behind _ them and they had to turn around to see what it was. Great, fucking great, three enemies with night vision goggles had just broken down the door Pidge had locked for them. Keith knew it had been down right impossible for them to get out of there without running into anyone (hell just getting in they had had to take down so fucking many) but one could at least  _ hope _ , right? But no no, it had to be difficult.

 

Shiro had been quick to raise his handgun and immediately take out the one that was at the front of the enemy trio with a skilled shot to the neck (one of the few places that was safe to shoot in their full body armor). Keith was maybe a second behind trying to take out the next one. He fired two shots but missed. (Guns weren’t his thing okay?) Luckily Shiro joined in and at least got a shot to the enemy’s hand and so they couldn’t return fire. That didn’t include the third guy behind the first two who was raising their nasty looking machine gun towards them.

 

“Down!”

 

Shiro basically slammed themselves to the floor, it was a good thing that Hunk had had the right mind to continue to the next crossway with Shiro’s and Keith’s backfire since he wouldn’t have been able to do that with Lance. Bullets speared through the air where Keith’s and Shiro’s chest had been just seconds before. 

 

“Keith!” came a yell from behind them. Keith looked over his shoulder and just about quick enough to move so that he could catch the grenade being thrown to him. He was even quicker to pull the safety pin off and fling it towards the enemies at the end of the hall. It was also good that Keith’s throw was much much better than his shot because it was like over 330 feet long gap, and Keith was throwing the grenade while lying on the floor.

 

The grenade landed neatly where the two enemies were and it didn’t take more than few seconds to go off after that. Damn  the explosion was… loud. That was bad. Keith’s ears were now ringing a little and the heat of the explosion almost reached them. A few small rubble actually landed on them.

 

But the enemy was down, and now they _ really _ needed to hurry.

 

“Is that you guys being quiet? That was not quiet! Goddammit you, argh! Go left from the next crossway!” Pidge cursed them over the coms. They didn’t bother to answer.

 

“Now don’t go through that door in the end of the hallway! Go through the door next to it on the left!”

 

They opened the door Pidge instructed and behind it was stairs, leading down. And they were on the ground floor.

 

“What? Pidge are you sure this is the way? There’s stairs leading down-” Keith got cut off as Pidge shushed him. He shut his mouth and gritted his teeth in irritation. It wasn’t like him to second guess Pidge but… he was on edge okay? His mind kept screaming at him to get out, get out, get Lance to safety! And a part of him was insanely untrustful right now. Even though he knew Pidge would _ never _ lead them to a trap. He was just… Anxious. He swallowed his doubt filled words.  _ Just trust your teammate _ . 

 

“Okay, so go down and then get into the third room on the right okay?”

 

They did so, only that the third door was locked and it wasn’t a keycard door. And they didn’t have the keys. An obstacle, yes, but not one that would stop them. They could break down the door or shoot the lock broken. Shiro went with the latter one. After three shots the lock was completely bust. Keith kicked it in and went ahead, Hunk was second and Shiro, who was reloading his gun, last.

 

“Uhh? Pidge? This is just an empty room?”

 

“I’m not sure what the room should look like but if you are where I meant to guide you, yes it is just a room without doors or windows. Your job is to blow up the wall opposite of the door and get outside from the hole you make.”

 

“What? That will attract way too much attention!”

 

“You already did that with the grenade! This is your only way out! Now just do it! There’s already lots of enemies heading your way and you need to blow up the wall before they reach you!”

 

“Here Shiro, you take Lance. I think this is a job for me”, Hunk said. Keith turned at the sound of Lance’s name and had to fight off nausea as he once again saw what he looked like.

 

“You two get outside. I’ll join you once I’ve set up the bomb.”

 

They did just that, going as far as to the bottom of the stairs. Keith kept his gun ready and guard up but now they had actually nothing to do but wait for Hunk. The good thing was that it didn’t sound like there was any enemy footsteps closing in on them. The bad thing was that the quiet moment gave Keith the change to see Lance again.

 

Shiro was holding him and Keith didn’t try to move Lance away from his hold. It was still more logical for the more stronger ones to carry Lance. Keith was strong and definitely would be able to carry Lance but he was… scared. Scared that he would jostle Lance more. Drop him or something. More than that, Keith wasn’t sure if he would be able to move if he focused to Lance too much because seeing him… It was paralyzing.

 

It was still dark and Keith was only seeing Lance because of the night vision goggles. He was scared to think what Lance would look like in the light. Keith focused his attention away from Lance’s injuries if just to not lose his own mind and focused on his hair. It was dirty and longer but it was still Lance’s hair. He softly stroked his fingers through it.

 

“We have him now Keith. It’s gonna be okay.”

 

Was it? They had Lance yes, but would it be really okay? Would Lance even survive? Lance was clearly nowhere near okay. And neither was Keith. Keith didn’t dare to say it out loud. Too afraid that voicing would… do something.

 

It had been more or less five minutes of waiting before Hunk came back.

 

“I tried to hurry and I’m a little uncomfortable for not getting to do the precise calculations but I  _ think _ it will just blow up the wall.”

 

“You think?”

 

“I’m like… 80% sure.”

 

“What?! 80% Hunk that’s-!” Keith had no time to continue as Hunk pressed a red button in his hand and there was an explosion heard from the room. After that there was a couple of moments of silence.

 

“See? The roof didn’t fall down on us! But uh… We should hurry…” Hunk eyed the roof warily and then behind him up the stairs.

 

Shiro got up without further ado. And Hunk and Keith followed. They were all taking careful steps and Hunk pushed the door open with utmost care. Behind it was a lot lighter than it was in the hallway. Not like sunlight but it looked like the dark of the night was starting to subside.

 

“Pidge, we are getting out now. What next?”

 

“Run.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Just run!”

 

There was a little ruble on the floor and a few bigger pieces of what had probably been the wall, but they were easily overstepped and they got to the hole on the wall easily enough. And after they stepped outside, they did just what Pidge instructed, they ran.

 

Keith felt unease doing something without really knowing why. Blindly following orders had always been a little difficult for him. But he had to trust Pidge. Trust your teammate.

 

And then they were there. As they ran (or gently jogged because Shiro couldn’t run too hard while holding Lance) a van came speeding down from the side, blowing sand clouds behind it as it rushed forwards. And then it came to screeching halt on their pathway and Pidge was opening the side door for them right at the perfect moment. They all scrambled into the van and Pidge was speeding away before they had even got the door closed.

 

“Woah! Pidge!”

 

“Sorry! I’m not sure if they will chase us or something. I want to get a good head start if they do.”

 

“Maybe this would help?” Hunk asked and only moments later there was a boom heard that was clearly an explosion.

 

Pidge looked out from the driver’s side side mirror. The fort they had just escaped had heavy black smoke rising from it once again.

 

“Well it probably gives them something else to think about”, Pidge agreed.

 

There was moment as the people in the car collectively turned to look at Lance in Shiro’s arms. It was dim and they weren’t wearing their night vision goggles anymore so they still couldn’t see just how damaged Lance was.

 

“Is he- U-Uh… How is he?” Pidge asked and Keith saw their grip tighten around the steering wheel. Keith kept looking at Pidge’s hands. Too afraid to look at Lance again. The nausea was raising again.

 

“He’s- He has a pulse.”

 

Shiro didn’t continue further from that. There didn’t seem to be anything else good to add. Keith heard a sob and quickly spared a glanced at Hunk. He was crying.

 

Keith gritted his teeth and turned to look out the front window again. He could see the night sky from the angle from sitting on the floor. Tears were burning in his eyes too but he had- he couldn’t fall apart  _ again _ .

 

They had done it. They had gotten Lance back. Lance was back.

 

But the condition Lance was in? 

 

Keith had imagined that it would feel like a victory to get Lance back. To get him to safety.

 

It didn’t feel like victory at all.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, there you go! A new chapter no less than after four months of hiatus XD This morning I got a new comment here and it was finally enough to guilt trip me enough to sit my ass down and finish this new chapter (buut it isn't the final one, haha). At least it was on the longish side? I just hope it made sense ^_^''
> 
> If you still returned to read this fic then I'm happy to see you again<3 If you just found this then welcome aboard! There will be I think at least two more chapters left? And I'll try not take another four month hiatus before posting them.
> 
> After all, the second season of VLD was awesome and my new years resolution was to try and finish the fics I start (or have already started) (It's at least a more realistic resolution than exercising or focusing on studying) So here's hoping that my inspiration and motivation continues!

**Author's Note:**

> I would love to get some comments from you!<3 especially if you wanna yell at me for my cruelty because... I'm totally not trying to hurt you haha...


End file.
